With the increasing popularity of portable media players, people want to listen to music or other media stored in their portable media players while driving in their vehicles. In particular, people want to use their vehicle's radio and speaker system to listen to the music and other media stored in their portable media players. Most radios in vehicles, however, do not easily couple to portable media players. Instead, some vehicles have input connectors or cassette players to which the portable media players can be coupled.
In vehicles that do not have input connectors or cassette players, people have to find other ways of sending the audio signals from their portable media players to the vehicles' radio or speaker system. One common method involves coupling a portable media player to a transmitter, which wirelessly transmits the audio signals to the vehicle's radio over a carrier frequency.
While using a transmitter solves the problem of coupling the portable media player to the vehicle's radio and speaker system, it creates new problems and hazards for the driver of the vehicle. For example, a driver must find an unused carrier frequency over which to transmit the audio signals. Finding the unused frequency can be difficult and distracting to the driver. Because the vehicle is moving, the unused carrier frequencies are constantly changing as the vehicle moves in and out of range of different radio stations. Furthermore, tall buildings, hills, and any other large structures can temporarily block electrical signals on a carrier frequency and make a used carrier frequency seem empty for a short period of time. These factors can make finding an unused carrier frequency frustrating and potentially dangerous if a driver becomes distracted while trying to find an unused carrier frequency.
Accordingly, a need exists for an electrical device, system, and method that allows a person to easily find unused carrier frequencies for transmitting audio or other electrical signals.
For simplicity and clarity of illustration, the drawing figures illustrate the general manner of construction, and descriptions and details of well-known features and techniques may be omitted to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the invention. Additionally, elements in the drawing figures are not necessarily drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention. The same reference numerals in different figures denote the same elements.
The terms “first,” “second,” “third,” “fourth,” and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the invention described herein are, for example, capable of operation in sequences other than those illustrated or otherwise described herein. Furthermore, the terms “include,” and “have,” and any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to those elements, but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.
The terms “left,” “right,” “front,” “back,” “top,” “bottom,” “over,” “under,” and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for descriptive purposes and not necessarily for describing permanent relative positions. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the invention described herein are, for example, capable of operation in other orientations than those illustrated or otherwise described herein.
The terms “couple,” “coupled,” “couples,” “coupling,” and the like should be broadly understood and refer to connecting two or more elements or signals, electrically and/or mechanically, either directly or indirectly through intervening circuitry and/or elements. Two or more electrical elements may be electrically coupled, either direct or indirectly, but not be mechanically coupled; two or more mechanical elements may be mechanically coupled, either direct or indirectly, but not be electrically coupled; two or more electrical elements may be mechanically coupled, directly or indirectly, but not be electrically coupled. Coupling (whether only mechanical, only electrical, or both) may be for any length of time, e.g., permanent or semi-permanent or only for an instant.
“Electrical coupling” and the like should be broadly understood and include coupling involving any electrical signal, whether a power signal, a data signal, and/or other types or combinations of electrical signals. “Mechanical coupling” and the like should be broadly understood and include mechanical coupling of all types.
The absence of the word “removably,” “removable,” and the like near the word “coupled,” and the like does not mean that the coupling, etc. in question is or is not removable.
As used herein, “vehicle” and the like should be broadly understood and refer to vehicles of all types and designs, including watercraft, aircraft (both lighter-than-air and heavier-than-air), automobiles, trucks, carriages, golf carts, motorcycles, etc.